title: Using online program development to foster curricular change and innovation.
abstract: Distance education offers an opportunity to catalyze sweeping curricular change. Faculty members of the University of Michigan Dental Hygiene Program spent eighteen months researching best practices, planning outcomes and courses, and implementing an e-learning (online) dental hygiene degree completion program. The result is a collaborative and portfolio-integrated program that focuses on the development of reflective practitioners and leaders in the profession. A team-based, systems-oriented model for production, implementation, and evaluation has been critical to the program's success. The models and best practices on which this program was founded are described. Also provided is a framework of strategies for development, including the utilization of backward course design, which can be used in many areas of professional education.
authors.affiliation: Periodontics and Oral Medicine, University of Michigan, 1011 N. University, Room 3066, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. agwozdek@umich.edu
authors.forename: Anne E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Gwozdek
authors.forename: Emily C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Springfield
authors.forename: Melissa R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Peet
authors.forename: Wendy E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Kerschbaum
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking; D002322:Career Mobility; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D003657:Decision Making; D003756:Dental Hygienists / Q000193:education*; D020375:Education, Distance / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D055317:Evidence-Based Practice; D005178:Faculty; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007857:Leadership; D007858:Learning; D040541:Marketing; D008824:Michigan; D009862:Online Systems; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010348:Patient Care Team; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D013192:Staff Development; D013334:Students; D013663:Teaching / Q000379:methods